Women's Soccer

Early Goal Not Enough As Wilmington Women’s Soccer Falls, 3-1, at West Chester in Season Opener

Posted: Sep 04, 2014

Despite scoring the first goal of the contest, the Wilmington University women's soccer team dropped its 2014 season opener at West Chester, 3-1, on Thursday afternoon.

The Wildcats (0-1 overall) broke the game open in the 15th minute but West Chester (1-0 overall) came back with three unanswered goals, two of which came in the second half, to earn the comeback victory.

Redshirt freshman Loran Wyrough broke through the defense chasing down a nice through ball by junior Becky Sowers. Beating the Golden Rams' keeper to the ball at the top of the 18-yard box, Wyrough deposited the ball into the far side of the net, giving the visitors a 1-0 lead just 14:25 into the match.

For the rest of the first half, the Rams kept the pressure on the Wildcats' defense, putting the next seven shots on the board, including the game-tying goal at the 25th minute mark.

Early in the second half, a misclear off a corner kick and an initial save by Julia Brown allowed the Rams to put home a rebound to go ahead 2-1 just 2:05 into the second frame.

The Rams added another goal in the 77th minute of the game, catching Brown off her line from 35 yards out to give the home team a 3-1 lead.

"The two goals in the second half were mental mistake that we can't make if we want to be successful," head coach Josh Ruggiero said. "We had a lot of positive to build from but West Chester took advantage of a few mistakes. Take those mistakes away and it's a different game."

The Wildcats were outshot, 18-3, and allowed more corners, 9-1, to the Rams. Brown made six saves in goal for the Wildcats while West Chester's Alex Srolis recorded two stops for the Rams.

All three shots were on goal for the Wildcats, as Wyrough, Sowers, and Jess Carpenter all recorded shots throughout the contest.

The Wildcats are back in action on Tuesday, September 9, when they play their 2014 home opener at the WU Athletics Complex. The team will battle Adelphi starting at 4:30 p.m.